As more and more wireless headphones come equipped with noise cancellation, an update to AKG's wired N60 NC seems inevitable. The $299.95 AKG N60 NC Wireless headphones mix Bluetooth audio with the excellent sound quality and solid noise cancellation of their wired counterpart. If noise cancellation is your top priority, Bose still holds an edge with its QuietComfort line. If music is more important, however, these might just be the headphones for you.

Design

The supra-aural (on-ear) N60 NC Wireless headphones look quite similar to the wired model, with plush black leather earpads and a well-cushioned headband. The fit is lightweight and quite secure, despite the headphones exerting very little noticeable tension on the ears or scalp. AKG also makes it possible to get a precise ear-to-ear fit by using the headband adjustor's detents and numbers to match up both sides.

The right earcup houses the various controls. A central rocker-style button controls playback and call management when pressed, or track navigation when pushed one way or the other. There are also dedicated volume up/down buttons that work together with your mobile device's master levels.

The left earcup houses the micro USB connection for the USB charging cable, as well as a connection for the included audio cable. The cable is cloth-lined and includes an inline mic and single-button remote at roughly chin level. Connecting the cable unpairs the headphones to save some battery life, but it's still possible to use them in noise-canceling mode, or to disable noise cancellation and use the headphones in passive mode. However, you can't disable noise cancellation while in wired mode—those two features are tied together.

The inline mic on the cable offers excellent, crystal clear intelligibility, while the built-in mic on the headphones is merely average. Using the Voice Memos app on an iPhone 6s, we were able to understand every word recorded with both mics, but the wireless mic introduced several audio artifacts, resulting in a less clear sound.

The headphones fold down at hinges above the earcups and slip into an included neoprene pouch. The pouch lacks a zipper, which is a bit annoying, but it's still protective. In addition to the charging and audio cables, AKG includes a dual-prong airplane jack adapter.

The company estimates battery life to be roughly 15 hours, but your results will vary with your volume levels, as well as with your use of noise cancellation when in wired mode. The headphones don't, however, automatically shut down after long periods of inactivity, so switching them off manually is a must to preserve battery life.

Performance

First, let's discuss noise cancellation. It's not quite as effective as Bose's best-in-class active noise cancellation, but AKG does a very good job of eliminating ambient room noise and powerful rumbles—the headphones should do well on planes and buses, and knock out the whir of strong AC units quite well. They're less effective when it comes to tamping down voices and office chatter, but few noise-canceling pairs achieve this as well as the Bose QuietComfort 35. So the headphones get strong marks in the noise cancellation category—not quite on the same level as Bose, but close.

From an audio standpoint, AKG pulls slightly ahead. On tracks with intense sub-bass content, like The Knife's "Silent Shout," the headphones deliver powerful low frequency response. There is no distortion at top, unwise listening levels, and at more moderate levels, the bass is still robust and well-matched by high-mid and high frequency presence.

Bill Callahan's "Drover," a track with far less deep bass in the mix, sounds fantastic here. The drums get an ideal amount of low frequency presence—they sound strong and deep without being overly thunderous. Callahan's baritone vocals get an ideal amount of high-mid treble edge to lend some contour and crispness to their low-mid richness, and the guitar strumming gets an ideal amount of presence in the high-mids as well. This is not a bass-forward sound signature, nor a bright sound signature—it's both rich in the lows and well-defined in the highs, delivering optimal balance.

On Jay-Z and Kanye West's "No Church in the Wild," the kick drum loop gets solid high-mid presence, keeping its attack sharp and allowing it to slice through the layers of the mix. But its sustain is also beefed up a little in the lows, and the sub-bass synth hits that punctuate the beat are delivered with gusto. The vocal performances on this track are delivered with ideal clarity—there's no hint of added sibilance or harshness, but all three vocalists are perfectly clear.

Orchestral tracks, like the opening scene in John Adams' The Gospel According to the Other Mary, get some added depth that pushes the lower register instrumentation forward in the mix slightly. However, the higher register brass, strings, and vocals are still the most prominent force in the mix, and the end result is superb balance, with a little more body in the lows.

Conclusion

We'll make this simple: If you're looking for best-in-category active noise cancellation, that distinction still belongs to Bose—check out the aforementioned QC 35 or the in-ear QC 30, both of which are wireless. However, if you want the best Bluetooth audio performance combined with quality noise cancellation, the N60 NC Wireless headphones are a great bet. Noise cancellation may not be Bose-level, but it's still very high quality. And for $300, the headphones are exceptionally comfortable and sound fantastic. If you want to save some money and don't need Bluetooth, AKG's wired N60 NC model also sounds great.